NIAA NOTES: Board mulls move of girls soccer to fall sports season

Here we go again.

In what seems like a never-ending cycle, the Clark County School District is planning to move girls soccer to the fall next year.

And another party appears ready to take legal action to prevent the district from making the move.

This time, though, the district might have an answer to complete its charted course.

CCSD executive athletic director Ray Mathis told the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Ascociation’s Board of Control at its Tuesday meeting in Reno that the district will add a girls sport next winter.
What that sport will be, though, remains a mystery.

“We’re adding a sport, and at that time is when we will move,” said Mathis, who added that the district is conducting interest meetings and student surveys to determine what sport it would add. One of the possibilities is lacrosse.

It’s nearly vital for the district to make the move next year, which is when a new alignment takes place.

Currently, only six Southern Nevada schools — Adelson School, Boulder City, Faith Lutheran, Moapa Valley, Pahrump Valley and Virgin Valley — play fall girls soccer. Next year, eight other current 4A schools will join five of those teams in Division I-A for all sports. Not moving girls soccer to the fall could cause scheduling issues.

In the meantime, though, the board has learned that moving soccer from the winter to the fall could have the CCSD facing another move — into the courtroom.

“Girls soccer for Clark County has kind of been on our docket for a decade,” NIAA executive director Eddie Bonine said. “Since we had our last meeting, we have received a communication from a law firm in Las Vegas to let us know that if we move forward ... we will be in the crosshairs of litigation.”

It wouldn’t be the first time.

Three years ago, a parent of a Green Valley player filed a lawsuit to stop the move, claiming it violated Title IX issues that dictate equal opportunity for males and females. The parent had a daughter who played both volleyball and soccer, which will be in the same season once soccer is moved.

Since then, the school district has sought and received annual permission from the board to keep girls soccer in the winter.

NIAA legal counsel Paul Anderson received a letter approximately two weeks ago. Anderson didn’t reveal who submitted the letter.

“It’s kind of a repeat of what we’ve seen before from (the Green Valley parent), threatening litigation if Clark County were to move girls soccer,” Anderson said. “This letter somewhat mandates that the sport (added) be lacrosse, but I don’t think a disgruntled parent can mandate what the sport is.”

Mathis said the CCSD’s legal counsel would make a recommendation to add a particular sport.

STATE BASEBALL — Though it didn’t come up in the board meeting due to a lengthy executive session that led to time issues, it’s likely the NIAA will make some slight changes to the schedule for this year’s state baseball tournament.

The state tournament will be held in the North this season, and the NIAA wants to hold the championships of all four classes at UNR.

Because the tournaments are double-elimination, that could mean two championship games for each class and eight total championship games, which would not fit into one calendar day.

As a result, the NIAA is considering move the dates of the Class 4A tournament this year from May 17-19 to May 16-18 and playing the tournament on a Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

A final decision is expected in March.

BONINE REHIRED — The board also approved a three-year contract for Bonine, retroactive to July 1 of this year.

The contract, which also provides for yearly performance reviews, has a base salary of $145,000 with scheduled increases of two percent for each of the next two years.